When planning the design for your new building project, don’t forget to spend some time on the electrical layout. Do you have cords or cables dangling from your wall mounted flat screen T.V.’s? Maybe you have an extension cord running across the floor that you trip over every once in a while. You can eliminate these by carefully thinking about how you will ultimately use the new space. Let’s talk about some design items you will want to consider.
T.V.’s: Back in the day, we placed a cable outlet on the main wall of the family room at outlet height and we were good to go. Now with wall mounted T.V.’s in every room, we need to carefully consider T.V. locations so we can install cable jacks and electrical outlets. We need to think about horizontal and vertical measurements. I don’t know about you, but those dangling cords and cables drive me nuts. If you are building a new wall for the T.V., you might consider adding a 2″ conduit from the T.V. location down to the location of the DVD player, receiver/amplifier and cable box. This will help you route the HDMI cables and other cables that may be added in the future. If you plan on mounting a large T.V. on the new wall, don’t forget to add a solid backer (2×4) to screw the wall bracket to.
Floor Outlets: Think about your furniture placement in the new space. Will you have a couch and end table in the center of the room? Don’t forget to add a floor outlet to power your lamp. There’s nothing worse than having extension cords strung across the floor. Can you say trip hazard?
Future Changes: If you have a basement, your first floor will be easy to get to in the future should you decide to add outlets, phone jacks, speaker wires or cables. But what about the second floor? As a builder, I always recommend my clients run a PVC conduit (2″) from the basement to the attic to fish wires up to the 2nd floor in the future. This will save you major cash on electrician labor hours and drywall repairs.
Cell Phone Coverage: How is the cell phone reception in your home? Does it come and go? While your electrician is there, you might want her to add an outlet in the attic for a cellular signal booster. More and more people are dropping their land line phone and just using the cell phone. So, you might as well have the best signal possible. This will help with your data speed for internet browsing on your smart phone as well.
Computer Network: In the old days we spent time planning our phone jack locations…for our phones. Now, we need to place our cat-5 and cable jacks strategically to accommodate our computers, tablets, ipods…etc. Be sure to consider Wi-Fi coverage when planning the location of your wireless network. Don’t forget about exterior spaces that you might use as well.
Holiday Lighting: This one is fresh in all of our minds. What if you had weatherproof outlets strategically placed on the exterior of your home to make easy work of your holiday light installation? Do you have several cords to plug in each night to turn on the lights? What if you have a couple switches all in one place to turn them all on?
With a little planning, your newly completed project will provide for all your wiring needs without any extra effort.
Michael Luckado has built, remodeled and repaired thousands of homes across the United States over the past sixteen years. He came over from his blog at armchairbuilder.com to write this post for us! We couldn’t be happier! Thanks again, Michael!